Chinese Across America
Talk DimSum Thing
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1thebloke
Having lived the past six years in Southern California and frequently visiting Northern California, I might be excused into thinking that America is very diverse and it is very easy to find things Asian everywhere. I mean, there are two major Chinese Supermarkets (>100K sq. foot) and several other Middle Eastern/Japanese/Korean/South Asian Supermarkets within a 15 minute drive from where I live!
So, every now and then when I visit other cities in the US, I am brought back down to earth that after all Chinese is still a meager minority in the US.
Take for instance, my current trip to Denver. When we arrived on Saturday for a conference, I thought I might check out a Chinese restaurant since I figured the rest of the week, we will be having the usual conference food and other usual evening meal of steaks or fish...
So I whipped out my PDA while in the taxi from the airport and did a Live Search on chinese restaurants around my hotel. I called several places and deliberately spoke in Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin) to the person who answered the phones. Of the five or so places I called, every single one of them told me that their cuisine are Americanized. One even said, "It's not suitable for you!"
So, my question is, where do you live and what encounters with Chinese (or generally, Asian) cultures do you have in your communities?
In terms of literature as well, what kinds of Asian-American literature are available in your communities? Do books like "Joy Luck Club" or "The Woman Warrior" (which incidentally was a required reading for one of my high schoolers and one college student in their English and/or Writing classes at a California high school or college just this past year). Is this repeated in other parts of the country?
So, every now and then when I visit other cities in the US, I am brought back down to earth that after all Chinese is still a meager minority in the US.
Take for instance, my current trip to Denver. When we arrived on Saturday for a conference, I thought I might check out a Chinese restaurant since I figured the rest of the week, we will be having the usual conference food and other usual evening meal of steaks or fish...
So I whipped out my PDA while in the taxi from the airport and did a Live Search on chinese restaurants around my hotel. I called several places and deliberately spoke in Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin) to the person who answered the phones. Of the five or so places I called, every single one of them told me that their cuisine are Americanized. One even said, "It's not suitable for you!"
So, my question is, where do you live and what encounters with Chinese (or generally, Asian) cultures do you have in your communities?
In terms of literature as well, what kinds of Asian-American literature are available in your communities? Do books like "Joy Luck Club" or "The Woman Warrior" (which incidentally was a required reading for one of my high schoolers and one college student in their English and/or Writing classes at a California high school or college just this past year). Is this repeated in other parts of the country?
2mvrdrk
There is good Chinese food in Denver! It's just not common and I no longer remember where to go.
For decades, we would go to the Japanese grocery in Denver once a month to get stuff because it was the only place that carried Asian groceries. My uncles used to mail us non-perishable food from NYC and SF as a special treat. There was no Asian-American literature in popular fiction. Now it's all over the place.
For decades, we would go to the Japanese grocery in Denver once a month to get stuff because it was the only place that carried Asian groceries. My uncles used to mail us non-perishable food from NYC and SF as a special treat. There was no Asian-American literature in popular fiction. Now it's all over the place.
3thebloke
Yep - I am sure there is. I was eventually recommended a place (while at a sushi restaurant) called Palace Chinese Restaurant, but the evening I had planned to go, I had earlier invited some guests for a dinner meeting and these guests were visiting at the conference from Asia and they preferred to have Real American Food, so we went to a newly opened place downtown that served very, very good seafood fare and deserts to die for! So it worked out as well!
4mvrdrk
>1 thebloke: I currently live in the greater Seattle metropolitan area and have very few encounters with Chinese (or generally, Asian) culture, most of the encounters are food related. One of my children has an extensive Asian community of friends of primarily Chinese, Korean, and Japanese backgrounds. If I wanted a more extensive engagement with the Chinese community, I know I could get involved with the weekend Chinese language schools or with some of the community outreach programs for the Chinese-speaking elderly, but I simply do not have the time.
From a literature point of view, the secondary schools here tend to emphasize Japanese-American literature over other Asian-American literature. I think it makes sense, given the enormous impact the Japanese-American internment had on the area. Japanese is also offered in many of the schools as a foreign language.
In general, I think your experience and my current situation are unique to the west coast. Even living in the NYC metropolitan area with it's large Asian population and active Asian communities, awareness was attuned to Europe and Europeans rather than to Asia and Asians.
From a literature point of view, the secondary schools here tend to emphasize Japanese-American literature over other Asian-American literature. I think it makes sense, given the enormous impact the Japanese-American internment had on the area. Japanese is also offered in many of the schools as a foreign language.
In general, I think your experience and my current situation are unique to the west coast. Even living in the NYC metropolitan area with it's large Asian population and active Asian communities, awareness was attuned to Europe and Europeans rather than to Asia and Asians.
5belleyang
July 21, 2007 Tonight on CSPAN 2!! 7:45 PM Pacific Time. 10:45 PM East Coast
http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=8356&SectionName=History&Pl...
Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans
Bookmark Program
Author: Jean Pfaelzer
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, July 21, at 10:45 PM
About the Program
Jean Pfaelzer examines the purge of thousands of Chinese Americans from California and the Pacific Northwest in the late nineteenth century. Often driven from their homes on the same train tracks they helped build; Ms. Pfaelzer presents a history of persecution that began in 1849. However, the author relays that the Chinese fought back and filed the first lawsuits for reparations in the United States and won the right to public education years before Brown v. Board of Education. Jean Pfaelzer delivers her talk at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library in Monterey Park, California. The event is sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Chinese American Citizen Alliance, Organization of Chinese Americans - Greater LA Chapter, and The Chinese American Musuem.
About the Author
Jean Pfaelzer is a English, East Asian studies, and American studies professor at the University of Delaware. She is the author of four books including, "Parlor Radical: Rebecca Harding Davis and the Origins of American Social Realism."
http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=8356&SectionName=History&Pl...
Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans
Bookmark Program
Author: Jean Pfaelzer
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, July 21, at 10:45 PM
About the Program
Jean Pfaelzer examines the purge of thousands of Chinese Americans from California and the Pacific Northwest in the late nineteenth century. Often driven from their homes on the same train tracks they helped build; Ms. Pfaelzer presents a history of persecution that began in 1849. However, the author relays that the Chinese fought back and filed the first lawsuits for reparations in the United States and won the right to public education years before Brown v. Board of Education. Jean Pfaelzer delivers her talk at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library in Monterey Park, California. The event is sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Chinese American Citizen Alliance, Organization of Chinese Americans - Greater LA Chapter, and The Chinese American Musuem.
About the Author
Jean Pfaelzer is a English, East Asian studies, and American studies professor at the University of Delaware. She is the author of four books including, "Parlor Radical: Rebecca Harding Davis and the Origins of American Social Realism."
6JNagarya
#1 --
I live in the Boston-area Chinatown, but when I eat Chinese it is ually the American"ized". As for literature, I'm on a committee seeking to re/establish a library in Chinatown. There was a mobile one for a time during the 1930s or '40s; and then for a time during the 1950s. But there hasn't been one since then.
So as for literature, one must go to "regular" bookstores ("Borders"), or order online (Amazon). I don't read other than English, so I don't buy Asian books (I have a Maxine Hong Kingston, but didn't get far in it because shocked at how poorly written it is). The film of "Joy Luck Club" did result in extensive research on Amy Tan -- including interviews, and some online writings, the latter including her wonderful essay, "Mother Tongue".
And despite having lived here nearly three decades I only recently noticed an ESL class where I live. It's a delight to see the ernestness of the adult immigrants wanting to learn and make progress in their "new" country.
I live in the Boston-area Chinatown, but when I eat Chinese it is ually the American"ized". As for literature, I'm on a committee seeking to re/establish a library in Chinatown. There was a mobile one for a time during the 1930s or '40s; and then for a time during the 1950s. But there hasn't been one since then.
So as for literature, one must go to "regular" bookstores ("Borders"), or order online (Amazon). I don't read other than English, so I don't buy Asian books (I have a Maxine Hong Kingston, but didn't get far in it because shocked at how poorly written it is). The film of "Joy Luck Club" did result in extensive research on Amy Tan -- including interviews, and some online writings, the latter including her wonderful essay, "Mother Tongue".
And despite having lived here nearly three decades I only recently noticed an ESL class where I live. It's a delight to see the ernestness of the adult immigrants wanting to learn and make progress in their "new" country.
